Cardiff 0 Charlton 2

For two seasons in the Premiership we only won one or two away games - and I wasn't there. We're not even half way through this season in the Championship and we've won seven away games already. It's nights like tonight that you think this is definitely the best season to go to every game. The lows of the last two home games are now matched by the highs of the away wins. The cost of tickets and travel and and the time off work are all worth while on nights like tonight.

But one expense remains a curiosity. Why do we get charged £5.10 to get into Wales, but you can leave for free. Why is that? And why £5.10? What is the extra 10p for? In the course of the season it won't be that significant - but why?

In truth we never hit the heights, but we were well worth the win. Quite simply Cardiff never had enough to break us down. Weaver only had one shot to save, and whilst we didn't exactly cause them too many problems we were clearly the better side. The second half in particular was a rearguard action, typical of an away team. But it was good to get that second goal to ease the nerves.

It was my first experience of Ninian Park, and I have to say it was a crap ground. It was good to be able to stand, but we had to stand behind the seats. That was strange. The locals weren't particularly welcoming and struck up a bit of, er 'banter' with some of the Charlton boys. I can imagine it might kick off with more aggressive away support, but the Cardiff support seemed more preoccupied and frustrated with their own teams shortcomings.

Matt had parked in a good spot so we made a fairly quick getaway, and were well past Bristol by 10.30. I filed this report to the SX Addick on the way home and we're currently due to arrive home by 12.30. That's probably tempting fate though.

Up The Addicks!

Robin

Bluebird bound

Another midweek away game and another challenge. The first thing is always to get away from work in good time. I've managed to sort that out for the Cardiff game, but I've been faced with the same problem as with Bristol City and Swindon earlier in the season. Going by public transport means I can't get home after the game.

For this game I won't be staying away as I've managed to pursuade Matt to take me. So he too has the problem in booking time off work. He promises me that he has managed it and we're due to meet up near his offices in Loughton. We should be on the motorway network before 3.00pm, and all being well at Cardiff in time for kick off. It'll be late getting home, but at least it will be home.

It doesn't look like a large contingent from Essex considering we've only sold 400 tickets. Tony isn't taking his bus anyway. Let's just hope there is good reason to make a bit of noise and we continue our away form. We need to.

Up The Addicks!

Robin

Not good enough

We can blame the referee, we can blame Darren Ambrose, or we can blame Pardew. It doesn't matter, because the simple fact is that over the past two games we have not been good enough.

The free kick leading to Burnley's first goal was a bit dubious, as was several of the referees decisions. And yes, the standard of referees in this league is poor. But Burnely's first two goals were straightforward set pieces that should have been easy enough to defend against. But for some reason the two centre backs and the goalkeeper can't get it together. Two down in the first quarter, yet Weaver had hardly touched the ball. Burnley then missed a great chance to make it 3-0. Our wingless midfield huffed and puffed, but couldn't create too much up front. And the the two forwards in the reinstated 4-4-2 formation never looked like scoring.

Nobody played that badly, but nobody played that well either. And until we get a cutting edge, Charlton are going nowhere in this league.

Having sorted out how I'm going to get to Cardiff, I got the tickets and watched the West Ham v Chelsea game in Bartrams. I managed to get, and hold onto, front row seats. Unfortunately the club decided to take out all the TVs and leave just one large screen in the corner at head height. This means that as soon as it gets busy hardly anyone can see. Whoever brought this change about is not a football fan and has no idea how the more successful sports pubs operate. The clarity on the screen was so bad that people coming in took a look at the screen and thought Chelsea were winning. The 0-0 scoreline on the screen was so blurred people thought it was 1-0. This brought about a certain amount of confusion when Chelsea did score and the screen went to 1-0. Going to Bartrams before the game made a change, but not sure I'll be there next week.

I'll be off to Cardiff on Tuesday to see if our fortunes change. How many points do we need for safety in this league?

Up The Addicks!

Robin

Claret & Blue

After the bitter midweek disappointment we now face one of those games that has no added spice except the need for three points. Having been to Turf Moor a couple of times in the distant past, I know they don't have the most welcoming of supporters. In fact I recall there was a bit of a rucus when they came to The Valley in a cup tie a few years ago. I don't imagine they'll have massive support on Saturday though.

But in an attempt to get my fill of Claret and Blue, and knowing the Horse and Groom will be shut, I think I'll get over to Bartrams to watch the cheating, lying Hammers on the early TV game. I need to sort out tickets for Cardiff and West Brom anyway.

Burnley have a new manager and come to us on the back of an away win at the league leaders. They won't show any fear, but it'll be interesting to see whether they come at us, or sit back and defend. I can see that this game may go any which way. If we get on top early on and get a quick goal, we could get a hatful. On the other hand we're not that prolific and it could easily be a 0-0 draw. Even a defeat. But please, not another 0-3 defeat. Let's keep the faith.

Up The Addicks!

Robin

A bad night out

What is the world coming to? Pubs shutting when they want to. Not for the first time this year, The Horse and Groom was closed on a match day. Below the the handwritten note saying 'under new management' was a printed sheet of paper saying the pub was closed , and will be again on Saturday. The place has only just re-opened for Christ sake. Helpfully the note suggested we go to the Royal Oak. The bar staff can't cope with the customers from one pub, let alone two. Ironically we had just been in the Oak.

It really was a bad day all round. We met in London for a pint or two and caught the train to Charlton. Now having a beer before you start the journey seems like a good idea. But three stops down the track and you're busting for the loo. By the time we arrived at Charlton things were becoming urgent. We also realised that we needed a cashpoint if we were to have more than one drink. There used to be a cashpoint by the station, but this was obviously too convenient so it has been removed. From there we had to try to establish priorities - piss or pounds!

In years gone by we have used the Conservative club as the Essex Branch base for ticket collections. But these days they want to charge two quid each just to get in. Don't think so!

With groin suitably clenched we went to the cashpoint by the club shop. Out of order. Bugger. Does the newly refurbished Royal Oak have a cash machine in it? Does it hell. A quick visit to the Oak did allow us to use the facilities though. This was when we moved onto the Horse and Groom where we discovered it couldn't be arsed to open. This did cause a problem as we were supposed to meet Matt, Toby and the Basildon boys. Unable to make phone contact with anyone we meandered around to Bartrams. This too has been done up in recent times. We clubbed together to get a quick pint in and stayed there.

A disruptive pre-match routine was matched by a disruptive game. Although Sheffield United had probably the smallest away support (though ours is usually smaller in midweek) their team soon got to grips with our formation and took the lead. Even injury time didn't provide the usual standard of entertainment. We looked good at the start of each half and went close early in the second. But in the end you have to hold your hands up and say, probably for the first time this season, we were beaten by a better team.

The 3-0 defeat hurt after so much recent success. People on message boards have recently been saying how we should prepare for the Premiership. This might be the reality check they need. Let's just focus on the next game against Burnley. Oh Blimey they just won away at Watford!

Up The Addicks!

Robin

Blades

With several connections with family and friends in Sheffield, it's a disappointment that this game's not on a Saturday. The game with Sheffield Wednesday earlier in the season meant that we had a houseful. For this game it'll be the usual routine. We'll be coming to the game from our various work places at various times. It looks like we've settled on the Horse and Groom as the pub of choice this season, though we need to sort out tickets for forthcoming games. We've not used the services of 'Fiddler' and the Essex Branch to get our tickets much this season, mainly because we're not sure who will be going until a late stage. But we need to sort it out soon.

As for the game against The Blades, it looks like a chance to extend our unbeaten run. But we thought that about Plymouth and QPR. This could easily be another banana skin. But if we really are going to push on, we need to win games like this. Playing 4-5-1 seems to have tightened us up at the back, particularly away from home. At home it needs to be more like 4-3-3. With Lloyd Sam and Jerome Thomas we have the players to make it work for us. Let's hope it works on Tuesday night.

Thank God for injury time

Saturday 24th November 2007 marked the end of the international break. And time for me to return from Canada. I'll remember that day for a long while. The plane left Montreal about midnight GMT, and British Airways got me into Heathrow bang on time at 7.00am. The Old Man was there to pick me up so we spent the next hour and a quarter in the car back to Essex. Time for a bite to eat - a confusing meal as I had been up and awake for 24 hours by this time and already had one breakfast. The Old Man came back at 11.30am to pick me up and we set off for Preston. I napped a little, but the motorways were good and we arrived in Preston about 4.00pm. Time for a quick beer or two in the Royal Garrison and back down the hill for my first ever visit to Deepdale.

Deepdale reminded me of when we beat Blackburn in the FA cup, with Darren Pitcher scoring in our famous win many years ago. Three sides of the stadium were in place and offered excellent views, but the stand on our left was missing. We can only speculate that it has been misplaced along with the six discs of data missing from HMRCs Preston offices. But with three quarters of the stadium in place it was quite impressive. Whether Pards and the substitutes thought so might be another matter.

With the adrenalin pumping there was never a problem staying awake for this one. The international break and Preston's new manager didn't stop us looking a classy side for much of the game. In truth I though Preston knocked it about well and caused us some problems in the second half. We need to sort it out when the ball comes into our goalmouth. Weaver never seems to command the area as he should do, and the Preston forwards were big and strong and got their heads to most crosses. But we rode it out and got the win. If we played only 45 minutes each half we'd probably only be mid table. But the Deepdale announcer said the "officials had agreed"a couple of minutes in the first half and four additional minutes in the second half. It sounded as though they had brought in the United Nations to secure that agreement, not just that the ref - previously introduced as "Misseda Friend" - had added the time on.

However he announced it, it was the signal to score a goal in each half and for us to go second in the table for a few hours.

And then the journey home. We had parked in a school playground for thee quid - the cheapest car park this season. Close to the ground, we were able to get away quickly up Sir Tom Finney Way, and follow the signs to teh M6 North. The announcer had told us during the game that the junction going South was closed, bringing a chorus of 'you're not going home' from the sympathetic Preston supporters. So we headed North. This didn't really delay us. I slept for most of the the four hour journey, eventually getting home at 11.15pm.

In a 24 hour period I had travelled for several thousand miles on a plane for seven hours and several hundred miles in a car for nine hours; 16 hours travelling in total with precious little sleep in over 40 hours. But with three precious points it was well worth it.

Up The Addicks!

Robin

Chant of the day: That good old favourite - Simon Jordan is a wanker, is a wanker... from the 'imbeciles'